Next story in Death of bin Laden

Jirde Mohamed walks past graffiti on the front of the Maine Muslim Community Center in Portland, Maine, on Monday. Just hours after President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed, the center reported that it had suffered a grafitti attack. The slogans included "Osama today Islam tomorow (sic)," and "Long live the West."

Far from mourning the death of Osama bin Laden, most Muslim-Americans are celebrating his demise, saying they have no sympathy to spare for a man who indiscriminately slaughtered people of all religions and launched their community into a decade of distrust and discrimination.

"A lot of (Muslim-Americans) feel, first and foremost, catharsis and relief," said Wajahat Ali, a Muslim-American writer and attorney in the San Francisco Bay area. "Relief because Osama bin Laden was a global symbol of terror and indiscriminate violence.

"… It's also a relief because he symbolizes (those who) hijacked Islam, legitimizing his ruthlessness (using the) religion. … His name and the photo (are) imprinted on the collective consciousness of the world."

Islamic leaders said they saw justice in killing bin Laden and emphasized that he was not one of their own.

“There are people who say he is ‘our’ [Muslim] symbol, but for the vast majority of people, they won’t care where he was buried. He will never be venerated in the Muslim world,” said Imam Mohamed Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America.

Backlash
But they were divided about whether bin Laden's demise would mark a turn for the better for the Muslim-American community, which many say has been subjected to anti-Islamic attacks and overzealous intelligence gathering by U.S. authorities as a backlash sparked by bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network.

"For too long, many of our fellow Americans have stereotyped the entire Muslim community as somehow being extensions of bin Laden," Yasir Qadhi, an Orthodox Muslim leader and Islamic Studies scholar at Yale University, said in an email. "While the capture of Osama bin Laden was always a high priority, dealing with bin Laden should never have distracted us from solving our domestic problems, nor been used to create problems that did not exist (by targeting and stereotyping the Muslim community).

Sufu Hashim of the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts put it more bluntly: "Maybe the Islamophobia can stop now," he said. "The persecution of Muslims can stop now, particularly in the United States."

According to intelligence experts, bin Laden's ability to coordinate terrorist attacks dwindled over the decade since he laid the groundwork for the Sept. 11 attacks, as dogged pursuit of his operatives fractured the al-Qaida network. Al-Qaida took weeks to respond to the popular uprisings in the Middle East, which many terror experts said was a reflection of diminished relevance and capacity.

'Sense of relief'
Nonetheless, the removal of bin Laden — because of its symbolism — could help lessen the animosity towards American Muslims, suggested Ali, the Bay Area lawyer.

"Maybe his death makes people feel safer. In some ways it doesn't matter if they actually are," he said. "He's this powerful icon of evil, the bogeyman, the face of terrorism. The fact that he is eliminated has caused a lot of people to exhale."

"There is a sense of relief," agreed Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations. "There's a sense that we are a little bit safer today than yesterday but obviously this is not the end of terrorism in our time. The ideology behind (terrorism) remains and needs to be challenged."

Bin Laden's death also does not end efforts by extremists to recruit disaffected Muslim-American youth into violent action. That represents a serious threat, according to many terrorism experts, who cite several planned attacks in recent years inspired by a Muslim extremist born in the United States and living in Yemen —
Anwar al-Awlaki
.

Muslim-American leaders say the threat exists, but argue that it has spiraled into irrational fear, as demonstrated by recent
controversial congressional hearings
focused on the threat posed by such home-grown terrorists..

"In addition to eliminating the leaders of al-Qaida, we must also challenge the theological rationale of these radicals, and address the socio-political concerns that enrage them to such a level," said Qadhi, the Yale scholar. "Until all of these are done in tandem, we shall always worry about the possibility of another person 'going radical' on us."

Those concerns pervade the theological spectrum.

Gregory Rec
/
The Portland Press Herald

Officer Gavin Hillard takes notes at the door of the graffiti-covered Maine Muslim Community Center in Portland, Maine, on Monday.

"Some people in my community are sort of Pollyanna-ish. They're hopeful that this is going to make a difference in America's Islamophobic behavior," said Karen Keyworth a Muslim in East Lansing, Mich., and co-founder of the Islamic Schools League of North America. "I would like to think that's true, but I do not think so."

Those concerns gained voice hours after President Barack Obama announced on Sunday that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden. The next morning, a Muslim Community Center in Portland, Maine reported that it had been attacked by graffiti artists overnight. Scrawled across the building, which serves mainly Somali Muslims, were the words: "Long live the West," and "Osama Today, Islam Tomorrow."

Those hateful words underline the challenge facing Muslim-Americans – an obstacle made so much larger by bin Laden and his decade long campaign of terror, said Ali, the Bay Area lawyer.

"The war on extremism isn't over," he said. "And the war on ignorance is not over."

Video: Using kid gloves to teach children about bin Laden

Closed captioning of: Using kid gloves to teach children about bin Laden

>>>finally tonight, all the images of americans celebrating the
death of osama bin laden
can be difficult for kids to process when they see them on tv. the kids too young to have known what 9/11 really was or who this man was who's now dead. from roxbury, mass tonight the story from nbc's
peter alexander
.

>>that's really wrong.

>> reporter: most of us know exactly where we were during the
september 11th attacks
, but not crystal pujols at orchard
garden school
near boston. she was just a preschooler.

>>where were you on 9/11?

>>i really don't remember, actually.

>>how old were you?

>>i was 5.

>> reporter: here in the shadow of
logan airport
where both planes took off that crashed into the
twin towers
, nick jesuwaldi is teaching his civics classes about that tragic day and the
death of osama bin laden
, a man that most of his students had never heard of.

>>for some reason or another they just hadn't been taught that over the years. so it was a huge surprise.

>>there are so many people who were killed and injured that had like nothing to do with it.

>> reporter: when
current events
are themselves history-making and dictate what's taught in history classes, the
lesson plan
can be challenging. for students there's a complicated mixture of joy and fear.

>>there may be retaliation. it's not over. and that makes you aware of what can happen next.

>> reporter: among their questions, is killing someone ever okay?

>>i think it's good that he's gone and he's out. but i feel sort of guilty for celebrating his death.

>> reporter: and in ora dell, new jersey a community impacted by those attacks 10th-grader samuel is cautiously expressing some relief.

>>justice has been served. finally the killer of thousands has been caught.

>> reporter: as these students search for meaning in this week's events --

>>you still haven't convinced me to be on your side.

>> reporter: -- perhaps the most important lesson is that not every question has a simple answer.
peter alexander
, nbc news, roxbury, massachusetts.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers keep watch at Grand Central Station in New York on May 6, one day after information from Osama bin Laden's compound indicated al-Qaida considered attacking U.S. trains on the upcoming anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
(Timothy A. Clary / AFP - Getty Images)
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Muslims protest the killing of bin Laden in a demonstration outside the U.S. embassy on May 6, in London. The demonstration, which was called by radical Muslim cleric Anjem Choudary, was in close proximity to a rival protest by the English Defense League that celebrated the death of the al-Qaida leader.
(Oli Scarff / Getty Images)
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English Defense League members gather outside the U.S. embassy in London to cheer the death of bin Laden, facing off against a rival Muslim protest condemning the killing, on May 6.
(Oli Scarff / Getty Images)
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Supporters of the Pakistani religious group Jamaat-e-Islami rally against the U.S. in Abbottabad on May 6. Hundreds took to the streets in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed, shouting "death to America."
(Anjum Naveed / AP)
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Kashmiri Muslims on Friday offer funeral prayers in absentia for Osama bin Laden in Srinagar, India. Friday is a traditional day of protest in the Muslim world, where demonstrations frequently take place after the main weekly prayers.
(Tauseef Mustafa / AFP - Getty Images)
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Filipino anti-riot police and Muslims clash during a protest march in Manila, Philippines, on Friday. Hundreds marched toward the U.S. embassy to denounce the manner in which bin Laden‘s body was buried at sea.
(Francis R. Malasig / EPA)
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A Pakistani in Karachi on Thursday reads a newspaper showing the passport of Amal Ahmed al-Sadah, Osama Bin Laden's fifth wife who was shot in the leg during the raid. Amal Ahmed al-Sadah is being treated at the military hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
(Rehan Khan / EPA)
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Members of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front hold portraits of U.S. President Barack Obama and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a pro-U.S. rally as they celebrate the killing of bin Laden, at Noida in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, May 5. U.S. officials sought to keep a lid on growing scepticism over Washington's version of events around bin Laden's death, insisting the al Qaeda leader was killed during a firefight in the compound in Pakistan where he was hiding.
(Parivartan Sharma / Reuters)
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A member of the radical group Islam Defenders Front walks past posters depicting Osama bin Laden and. President Barack Obama, during prayers for the al-Qaida leader at their headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, Wednesday, May 4.
(Irwin Fedriansyah / AP)
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Pakistani seminary students gather for an anti-U.S. rally in Quetta on May 4, against the killing of Osama bin Laden. Pakistan said the world must share the blame for failing to unearth Osama bin Laden as anger swelled over how the slain leader had managed to live undisturbed near Islamabad.
(Banaras Khan / AFP - Getty Images)
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An armed police officer stands guard outside the U.S. embassy in London, May 4. Security personnel in London remain vigilant following the death of al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden.
(Matt Dunham / AP)
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People shout slogans during a protest against the U.S. military raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden in Multan, Pakistan, May 4.
(MK Chaudhry / EPA)
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Soldiers and police officers patrol in the Nice-Cote d'Azur airport, in Nice, France, May 4, as security remained vigilant following the death of Osaam bin Laden.
(Lionel Cironneau / AP)
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Activists from the Anti Terrorist Front hold placards and shout pro-U.S, President Barak Obama slogans during a demonstration in New Delhi on May 3.
(Raveendran / AFP - Getty Images)
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Supporters of the banned Islamic organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa shout anti-American slogans before a symbolic funeral prayer for Osama bin Laden in Karachi, May 3. The founder one of Pakistan's most violent Islamist militant groups has told Muslims to be heartened by the death of Osama bin Laden, as his "martyrdom" would not be in vain, a spokesman for the group said on Tuesday.
(Athar Hussain / Reuters)
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Palestinians protest against the killing of the al-Qaida leader in the Gaza Strip on May 3. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which governs Gaza, condemned the killing by U.S. forces of bin Laden and mourned him as an 'Arab holy warrior'.
(Ali Ali / EPA)
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A special issue of the magazine, Time, on the death of Osama bin Laden, will hit newsstands on Thursday, May 5. The cover show a red “X” over bin Laden’s face, and the magazine says it is the fourth cover in Time’s history to feature the red “X.” Other covers showed Adolf Hilter on May 7, 1945, Saddam Hussein on April 21, 2003, and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on June 19, 2006.
(Time via AP)
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Supporters of the banned Islamic organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa embrace each other after taking part in a funeral prayer for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Karachi May 3. The founder one of Pakistan's most violent Islamist militant groups has told Muslims to be heartened by the death of Osama bin Laden, as his "martyrdom" would not be in vain, a spokesman for the group said on Tuesday.
(Athar Hussain / Reuters)
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A member of an elite Filipino police anti-terrorist unit stands guard in front of the US embassy in Manila, the Philippines on May 3.
(Francis R. Malasig / EPA)
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Members of the All India Anti-Terrorist Front (AIATF) hold placards in New Delhi, India on May 3 during a rally celebrating the killing of Osama bin Laden.
(Adnan Abidi / Reuters)
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Kristina Hollywood and her daughter Allyson attend a candlelight vigil for 9/11 victims at a memorial site following the death of Osama bin Laden in East Meadow, New York on May 2.
(Daniel Barry / Getty Images)
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University of New Mexico Senior Wes Henderson waves an American Flag during a rally in Albuquerque, NM, organized by a group of students on Monday to honor the troops after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan.
(Adolphe Pierre-louis / Zuma Press)
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Visitors, on Monday, look over the crash site of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville, Pa., following the announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan a day earlier. Nearly 10 years after Sept. 11, 2001 construction is underway to erect a formal memorial at the crash site.
(Jeff Swensen / Getty Images)
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Danielle and Carie LeMack and Christie Coombs, who lost relatives on 9-11, pause during a ceremony to honor the victims, Monday, May 2 at the Garden of Remembrance in Boston, Mass. Families of local victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks gathered at the 9/11 memorial to reflect upon the death of Osama Bin Laden.
(Darren McCollester / Getty Images)
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U.S. President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, Sunday, May 1. Also pictured are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
(The White House / Reuters)
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In this handout image provided by The White House, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in the Green Room of the White House, following his statement detailing the mission against Osama bin Laden, Sunday in Washington, DC.
(The White House / Getty Images)
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Part of a damaged helicopter is seen lying near the compound where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Sunday, May 1.
(DOD via Reuters)
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(Left image) Middle school teacher Gary Weddle with his beard photographed minutes before he shaves off the beard at his East Wenatchee, Wash., home on Sunday, May 1, 2011. (Right image) Weddle displays his cut beard while shaving the remaining stubble. Weddle completed a vow made nearly 10 years ago not to shave until Osama bin Laden was caught or proven killed.
(Donita Weddle / The Wenatchee World, Capital Press via AP)
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People look out at Ground Zero a day after the death of Osama Bin Laden on Monday, May 2 in New York City.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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World Trade Center construction workers listen as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speak about Osama bin Laden at the World Trade Center site in New York on Monday, May 2.
(Brendan McDermid / Reuters)
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Los Angeles Airport Police patrol the Tom Bradley terminal at Los Angeles International Aiport on May 2, 2011 in Los Angeles, Calif. Security presence has been escalated at airports, train stations and public places after the killing of Osama Bin Laden by the United States in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
(Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
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Carroll Fisher, of Auburn, Wash., a retired member of the US Air Force, waves a flag at passing cars as he stands on the "Freedom Bridge" just outside Joint Base Lewis-McChord on May 2, near Tacoma, Wash., the day after President Barack Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed.
(Ted S. Warren / AP)
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Angry supporters of Pakistani religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam burn a representation of the United States during a rally to condemn the killing of Osama bin Laden in Quetta, Pakistan on Monday.
(Arshad Butt / AP)
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A screen grab from the FBI's Most Wanted website, taken May 2, shows the status of Osama bin Laden as deceased. The al-Qaida leader was killed in a U.S. raid on a mansion near the Pakistani capital Islamabad early on Monday, officials said.
(fbi.gov via Reuters)
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Joyce and Russell Mercer, parents of New York Firefighter Scott Mercer who lost his life on 9/11, sit before a news conference concerning the death of Osama Bin Laden at the law offices of Norman Siegel on Monday in New York City.
(Daniel Barry / Getty Images)
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An armored Park Police vehicle is parked at the base of the Washington Monument, May 2, in Washington, DC. The DC area and other places around the nation have stepped up security after it was announced that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with U. S. forces in Pakistan.
(Brendan Smialowski / Getty Images)
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Jim Schweizer, assistant to the director of Fort Snelling National Cemetery, straightens flowers at the grave of Thomas Burnett, May 2, in Bloomington, Minn. Burnett died on Sept, 11, 2001 along with 39 other passengers and crew when Flight 93 was hijacked and crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa. Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces in Pakistan on Monday, and then quickly buried at sea in a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run.
(Richard Sennott / AP)
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This aerial photo, released May 2, 2011 by the Pentagon, shows a view of the compound in Abbottbad, Pakistan where a U. S. military operation was conducted and Al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden was killed on May 1.
(AFP - Getty Images)
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Ashley Gilligan reflects on the death of Osama bin Laden at NBC Studios in New York on Monday. Gilligan lost her father, Ronald Gilligan, in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
(Jonathan D. Woods / msnbc.com)
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President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the death of Osama Bin Laden prior to posthumously awarding Private First Class Anthony Kaho'ohanohano, U.S. Army, and Private First Class Henry Svehla, U.S. Army, the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry, in the East Room of the White House in Washington on May 2.
(Shawn Thew / EPA)
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Andrea Masano visits the memorial to Massachusetts victims of the attacks of 9/11 in Boston, Mass. on Monday.
(Brian Snyder / Reuters)
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Women read an extra edition of a Japanese newspaper in Tokyo, May 2, reporting the death of Osama bin Laden.
(Shizuo Kambayashi / AP)
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Kristen Grazioso, 14, places balloons on a carved stone Monday in Middletown, N.J., that honors her father, who was killed in the attacks on the World Trade Center. There are 37 stones in the garden representing those from Middletown who died in the attack.
(Mel Evans / AP)
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Tara Henwood Butzbaugh shows a photo of her family at the World Trade Center site in New York on Monday. Her brother was killed in the 9/11 attack.
(Andrew Kelly / Reuters)
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A Transportation Security Administration agent checks the luggage of a passenger on May 2 at the Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Fla. Security in airports and train stations has been increased in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden.
(Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images)
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Dionne Layne, right, hugs Mary Power in reacton to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden on Monday in New York. At left is 1 World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, which is currently under construction.
(Mark Lennihan / AP)
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai, center, is flanked by vice presidents Mohammad Qasim Fahim, left, and Mohammed Karim Khalili, right, as he addresses the media at the presidential palace in Kabul on Monday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that the killing of Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan proved Kabul's long-standing position that the war on terror was not rooted in Afghanistan.
(Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images)
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People shout slogans while holding placards and photographs of Osama bin Laden as they celebrate his killing in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad on Monday.
(Amit Dave / Reuters)
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University of Texas at Austin students celebrate the news of Osama bin Laden’s death at Cain & Abel’s bar late Sunday night.
(Erika Rich / Daily Texan via AP)
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People light candles in the streets at Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center, in response to the death of Osama bin Laden on Sunday night, May 1, in New York City.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
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A driver and passengers celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden in the streets of Lawrence, Kan., on Sunday. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night, May 1, that Osama bin Laden was killed in an operation led by the United States.
(Orlin Wagner / AP)
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Crowds gather at ground zero in New York early Monday, shortly after President Obama announced that a U.S. military operation had killed Osama bin Laden in a firefight at a large mansion in Pakistan.
(Justin Lane / EPA)
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People cheer and wave flags on the "Freedom Bridge" just outside Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Sunday near Tacoma, Wash., after they heard the news of bin Laden's death.
(Ted S. Warren / AP)
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David Huber and Nicole Lozare of Arlington, Va., pay their respect to victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon Memorial early Monday morning, after President Obama announced bin Laden's death. A special forces-led operation killed the al-Qaida leader in a mansion outside Islamabad in Pakistan.
(Alex Wong / Getty Images)
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U.S. Marines of Regiment Combat Team 1 watch TV at Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on Monday as President Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden. Obama said late Sunday U.S. time that justice had been done after the September 11, 2001, attacks, but warned that al-Qaida will still try to attack the U.S.
(Bay Ismoyo / AFP - Getty Images)
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Timeline: A timeline of Osama bin Laden's life

Considered enemy No. 1 by the U.S., the Saudi millionaire is the perpetrator behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Click on key dates to learn more about the founder of al-Qaida, an international terror network.

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